Enjoy Anthony’s Poems

Anthony was diagnosed after showing some poems to his psychiatrist about his mental conditions and how they made him feel. Some of these poems will appear in the FROSTED GLASS, and others appear in his book called The Mindset of a Mental Patient (published by Chipmunka Publishing*), which can be bought in paperback, ebook, CD and MP3 form (please click the desired ‘form’ to be taken to links for purchase or further information)

Here are a few of Anthony’s poems to wet your appetite..!

Am I an Alien?

I could be an alien,
Who’s come from outer space,
At least that’s they way I feel,
Living among the human race.

I feel like an outsider,
With brain programming gone wrong,
Misfiring and jumping from its groove
Into a different song.

Somehow I feel different,
And not one of the crowd,
But my alien race will not tell me for certain.
They will not lift the shroud.

I don’t know if I’m one of us,
Or if I’m one of them.
I wish I could go back to my home planet,
And start my life again.
Am I here to tell this other race
Of what life on earth is like?
Surely they’ve seen enough by now
To let me take a hike
Back to the space from which I’ve come,
To start my life once more,
Before the life I live on earth
Brings me mentally to the floor.

Labels

I’m a tin in the corner shop of life,
You’ll find me on a shelf,
For people always pass me by,
Despite their material wealth.

They pick me up and look at me,
And read my label now and then,
But then they pull a disgusted face,
And put me down again.

For so long they had done this,
And I really didn’t know why.
I knew soon I’d pass my sell-by date,
And then the end would be nigh.

So one day I gave my plight some thought,
And wondered “How am I labelled?”
Then a man picked me up and said to his mate,
“Look, this tin says disabled.”

So he put me down,
And they hurried away,
And at last the truth was clear.
It was the way I was labelled
That had sealed by fate,
Day after month after year.

So if you see me in life’s corner shop,
Pick me up for I won’t hurt you.
I might say disabled on my outside,
But on the inside I have virtue.

So I’ll end by telling you all right now,
As I sit next to life’s Black Treacle,
Please keep an open mind,
And do not be unkind,
For labels are for cans not people.

*About Chipmunka Publishing

Chipmunka Publishing raise awareness of mental health and the stigma surrounding mental health problems by encouraging society to listen. They are documenting mental health literature as a genre so history does not forget the survivors and carers of people with mental illness and disabilities. For more information click here.